last week i spent an afternoon with this crazy bunch – vegan legend kitty störby jutbring and her colourful and super cute family : husband per, and kids nikki-lo and kimmi-kid.
we whipped up some kid-friendly food, and i asked kitty and per about their top tips for anyone trying to get some healthy stuff into the tummies of picky eater kids.

i had a lot of fun, and kitty’s family is an inspiring one – quirky, fun, and with every intention of keeping their creative and ethical lifestyle even with two lil’ kids in the family. idealism is not only a teenage phase for sure !

general tips on feeding fuzzy eater kids
kitty and per have such a great attitude, they seem quite relaxed and patient regarding nikki-lo’s unwillingness to eat most healthy things. apparently this is very common issue for parents with kids in nikki-lo’s age. kitty and per have decided to never make food a stressful or uncomfortable thing for nikki-lo, so they never nag or force her to eat anything. but still, they serve veggies on her plate at every meal and hope for the best.

they seem confident that nikki-lo will grow into a veggie-lover eventually, so patience is key. and the more fun and less of an issue they make food seem to her, the quicker it will probably be. sounds great to me !
until that day, here are kitty and per’s top tips of kiddie food that you can easily smuggle down some veggies into :

berry smoothies
simply mix bananas with a sweet berry like raspberries or blueberries, and a bit of your favourite plant milk. most kids like the sweet flavour and you can use that to hide some healthy ingredients, like spinach, sunflower seeds, and goji berries. as you can see, one smoothie is garnish free, as nikki-lo likes it (even though her ‘garnish’ is mixed in the smoothie, sneaky as we are).

healthier pancakes
use buckwheat, chickpea or corn flour instead of white flour and eggs.
in these pancakes we used 1/3 wheat flour, 1/3 corn flour, and 1/3 chickpea flour.

bean burgers
mixing beans with tons of spices, a bit of potato and oats, and frying until crispy is a trick to get some beans in them bellies. you can also add veggies like carrots, corn, or zucchini and the taste will be disguised pretty well.

hot chocolate
oat milk is usually sweet enough that it will taste great warmed up with some unsweetened cocoa power – no sugar needed.

nice cream
always keeping some banana chunks in the freezer is a good idea to always be ready for healthy desserts and snacks. peel, slice, and freeze bananas. mix the banana chunks with unsweetened cocoa powder, and add some of your favourite plant milk (coconut milk is nice) until completely smooth. this just tastes like regular chocolate ice cream with a faint banana flavour, so most kids will like it !
(most adults too.)

mashed potatoes
mixing in some butter beans with your mashed potatoes is another way to get legumes in a kid-friendly form.

thank you so much kitty & co for teaching me how to cook with kids – i had a blast !